Equivalent Exchange
by valerie-chan
Summary: A girl goes to Lior and meets someone who she once knew... but she only remembers everything after she tried a human transmutation... in her sister's perspective... and body.


I walked. And walked. Why wasn't this right? All we had tried to do was bring Gin back to life. Of course it was against state law… but we loved her. _We _loved her. Now I was trapped in _her _body. My sister's, that is. I was the older one in the family, and our foster mother had loved us since we were just little kids. She had a daughter, too. And her name was Gin. We had all been best friends since I had started learning alchemy. My sister, Kaiori, had studied with me, though I was more talented. Getting her big hands, I now knew why. Although we were twins, she had always been bigger than me. It wasn't fair. I was older. I should at least be as tall as my twin. I always used to say we were born a day apart, since I was born at 11:58, and she was born at 12:02. But we had grown close. In fact, we were the only ones that truly knew each other's pain, and understood each other. And then Gin came and wanted to be friends. She had tried her best to help us with everything, and feel our pain. And then just a few months ago, she had died when a rock fell and crushed her skull. We had rebuilt the frame of her skull, and tried to bring her back to life. We had offered our blood in place of her soul… and according to the equation, it should have worked, but instead our own souls escaped and I somehow ended up in Kaiori's body. I had screwed up both of our lives… so now I was going to fix both of them. Starting with Kaiori's. I was all alone. I had made sure that Kaiori (or I?) was in good care. I had a sickness. So first I was going to get us into our original bodies, and then I was going to cure my disease. And what I needed to do both of those… was the Philosopher's Stone. I finally reached a town. I was so thirsty… whoa… was that a fountain of blood? I approached it to find that it wasn't blood… but wine. A man came up behind me and grabbed my shoulder. I twisted his arm behind his back. "Oh!" I shouted. "I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't realize you were just…" I started. "I'm sorry, you're not from around here, are you? I was just thinking you were one of the kids trying to snag some of the wine. You must be thirsty, though. I'll get you a drink." He said. "Uh, thank you, sir." I said. "Not a problem." He said. I smiled. "This is very kind of you, especially after I…" I started. "Don't mention it." He said. Just then, another person was at the fountain. The man rushed over and shoed him away. Turns out he was another foreigner. He came over here. "Hey!" he said. "Don't' I know you?" he asked. I put up my hood. He put it down. "Yeah!" He said. "You're the alchemist prodigy, Kaiori!" he shouted. I grabbed his ear and pulled it to my head. "I. AM. NOT. KAIORI!" I screamed, and shoved him to the ground. "My name is Sayana Sakoda and I am the prodigy alchemist!" I screamed. "Also known as the bloody alchemist." I said. He stood up. "Why do they call you that?" he asked. I pulled up my pant leg, revealing intricate patterns tattooed all over my leg, seemingly done in blood. "Oh." He said. "What happened?" he asked. "It's what happens when you mess with alchemy and try to bring people back to life." I said. "That's not what happened to me." He said. He took off his glove. "You're lucky, then." I said. I pulled up my other pant leg, revealing a mechanical leg. "You sure do hide a lot." He said. "I don't like showing skin." I said. "Or machinery." He said. I couldn't believe it, but a smile actually arose to my face. I bit my lip. "You're the full metal alchemist." I said. "Yeah." He said. "And my brother, Al." he said, motioning to the suit of armor behind him. I smiled at him and waved. "It's very nice to meet you, Sayana." He said. "And you, Al." I said. "Forgive me, but what's your name?" I asked. He looked embarrassed like: 'She didn't know my name?' I just smiled and waited. "Uh, it's Edward." He said, sticking out his hand. "Edward." I said. I looked at his hand, not really wanting to touch it. I finally just lightly grasped it and let go. "I suppose you're not a big fan of touching, either." He said. "Correct." I said. I looked at his eyes. Although his pupils were constricted, he looked friendly. Maybe it was his smile. I looked down at my lap. I put my hands in my lap. Why was I acting like a stupid little girl? I took a sip of my drink as he took a sip of his. "So why are you here?" he asked. "Long story." I said. "I'm in the mood for a story right about now." He said. "Okay." I said. "I used to have a friend when I was little. Along with Kaiori, we were best friends." I said. "So you are in some way related to Kaiori." He said. I sighed. "We're twins." I said. "I knew it! You shouldn't have been so harsh on me." He said. I sighed. "Anyways, her name was Gin. And then… a rock crushed her. We managed to reshape the skull… but she wasn't alive. We stumbled upon a book that had a forbidden file in it. It was an attempt at bringing people back to life. We had all of the ingredients ready, and we had drawn the circle. All that was left was the soul. We decided to use blood as an offering. It all went wrong, and our souls escaped. We ended up in the other twin's body. I had an illness, so now my sister has it, in my body. Now I need to find the Philosopher's Stone so that I can make things right. I screwed up both our lives… and now I'm going to fix both of them. Starting with Kairori's." I said. "That's almost the same exact reason we're here." Al said. "And your story?" I asked. "Our father left us at a very young age. Al and I started learning alchemy, and our mother was so proud of us. We then realized it was because it reminded her of our father." He said. "Then one day, we came home to find our mother lying on the floor, dead. We then decided to bring her back to life. We had our father's notes… and the ingredients. We, too, used blood as a soul sacrifice. Al's soul escaped, but I managed to contain it in a suit of armor. However, I offered my arm in return, and my leg had been severed. Al had carried me all the way to Winry's house. There I had been patched up. They decided to give me mechanical limbs. Al and I then decided we needed to make things right." He said. "And that lead us here." He said. "Well, if you do happen to get it… do you think you could share?" I asked. "Of course!" Edward said, suddenly brightening up. I couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" he asked. "I'm sorry." I said. "You're the first person that's offered to help me, and you're so cheerful about it." I said. "You're the first person to believe in me." He said, looking down. I smiled. "Plenty of people have believed in you. The colonel, and plenty of others. I've proved everyone that doubted me wrong. It's because I'm a girl. And short, and young." I said. "But I think I've convinced people to believe me." I said. "Sayana." He said. "Yes?" I asked. "You're not short." He said. I smiled. "Well, you're not short either, so you don't have much to say." I said. He smiled such a bright smile that I couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" he asked. "Your smile. You're… uh, handsome." I said. He smiled even brighter. I burst into little fits of laughter. I finally stopped, and looked into his eyes. "Uh, Sayana?" he asked. "What?" I asked. "Your hand is on top of mine." He said. I jumped in my seat. That had never happened before. I never touched _anyone. _I wiped my hand off on my coat. He laughed. "You're so jumpy and cautious." He said. "Well, that's my job." I said. There was an awkward silence in the air. "Well, maybe I'll see you later. I want to get some information on this Cornello character." I said. I stood up and began to leave. "Wait…" he said. I turned around. "What's that on your back?" he asked. "A violin. Why do you ask?" I asked. "You play violin?" he asked. "Well, I do carry it around with me. That's a logical conclusion, isn't it?" I asked. "Uh, yeah." He said.


End file.
